1. Fields of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rear safety foot rest of a treadmill, and more particularly, to a device which is coupled with a rear roller so as to permanently keep the running belt off the rear plate with a proper clearance.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Some treadmills have a rear safety foot rest directly disposed behind the running belt of the treadmill for safety purpose. When the running speed of operator much slower than that of the running belt, the feet of the operator will be in contact with the fixed rear safety plate. Therefore, the operator can make an instinctive response by increasing his running speed or springing away from the running belt to avoid falling back to the ground.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,560 describes a small piece of rear safety foot rest fitted directly behind the running bed on a treadmill. In order to avoid contact of the rear safety foot rest with the running belt, the rear safety foot rest is kept off the running belt with a proper clearance. The existence of the clearance is used as adjusting range for rear roller which is hidden within the running belt and neighbors on the rear safety foot rest in a parallel state.
The adjustment of the tensity and tightness of the running belt through the rear roller enables a smooth rotation of the running belt and avoids being slipped away or deviated. The position adjustment of the rear roller easily causes a greater or smaller clearance or different clearance at both sides relative to the fixed rear safety foot rest. In other words, foreign bodies are easily into the gap when the clearance is too large. If the engaged foreign body is fingers, its result is too terrible to imagine. Also, it doesn""t meet the safety requirements. If the clearance too small, the rear safety foot rest will rub against the running belt, thereby damaging components of the treadmill. The different clearance at both sides will cause a hindered rotation of the running belt and the above-mentioned ill effects. Furthermore, it affects the whole appearance of the treadmill, thereby giving the consumers a bad impression on the treadmill.
Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks and to provide a rear safety foot rest of a treadmill which can be synchronically moved with the adjustment of the real roller so as to permanently achieve an optimal clearance between the running belt and the rear safety foot rest